MYTV set to equip rural youths with skills
KUCHING: Tony Andas, 32, from Nanga Antawau, Baleh, is paid RM1,000 per month working as a log scaler in a logging camp at Putai Baleh in Kapit. With such a meager income he could not afford any luxury but it is enough to put his three young children in school and to put food on the table.
Tony’s wife is a homemaker and his windowed mother also lives with them. But recently his employer informed him that the logging camp where he works will cease operation soon. The news has been causing him many sleepless nights.
“I cannot afford not to have a job. I have three young children to feed and my wife is unemployed,” he lamented.
Tony also knows that it will be a huge challenge for him to find another job outside the logging camp as he does not possess the relevant vocational skill. I only know how to measure logs. I have been doing that for the past eight years. I don’t have any other skills,” he confessed.
However, as luck would have I, the government in collaboration with the Royal Malaysian Armed Forces held a roadshow on Mobile Youth Transformation Vocational ( MYTV), an initiative to provide basic vocational skills to unemployed youths in the interior, at his longhouse Nanga Antawau recently.
During the roadshow, he signed up for the Building Construction course conducted by Akademi Binaan Malaysia (ABM) and Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB).
“I have no experience in construction job. But now I am learning the skills like bricklaying, carpentry, cement mixing, wall plastering and many more. These skills will be useful for me to find jobs in the construction industry in the near future,” he said.
With the new skills, Tony said he is no longer worried about the future.
“I will use my new found skills to get jobs in the construction sector and to earn enough income to feed my family,” he said optimistically.
He is determined to educate his children so that they will have better life. He does not want his children to struggle like him.
“Life is tough here in Baleh. Job opportunities are very limited. Even if we want to do commercial farming, we will not be able to sell our farm produce at a profit. The cost of river transport is expensive. It is also too far for
I have no experience in construction job. But now I am learning the skills like brick-laying, carpentry, cement mixing, wall plastering and many more. These skills will be useful for me to find jobs in the construction industry in the near future.
us to send our produce to Kapit and Sibu,” he said.
Officer-in- charge in MYTV Captain Mohamad Shuhaida Suhaimi said the programme has benefitted many rural youths and adults in Sarawak.
“A participant who attended the construction training course in Spaoh few months ago is now a project supervisor in a construction company in Betong. Prior to signing up for the MYTV programme, he was an unskilled labourer with low self- esteem,” he said.
“Today, he is in charge of two construction projects – one each in Betong and Serian. He told me that MYTV programme has changed his life.”
Meanwhile, Pelagus assemblyman Wilson Nyabong Ijang said the programme provided an opportunity to the less educated youths in the rural areas to acquire vocational skills which will make them more marketable.
“When they are employed and earning good money, they will be able to help their families to escape poverty. Therefore, this programme can help to change the living standard in rural Sarawak,” he said.
MYTV is a programme under the National Blue Ocean Strategy ( NBOS) initiative. It was spearheaded by Sarawak government in collaboration with Malaysian Armed Forces and supported by partners from various agencies and corporate bodies. The courses offered include hairdressing, culinary, beauty, water piping, electrical wiring, brick laying, plastering,
Tony Andas
wielding, carpentry and modern agriculture.
Some 190 rural youths in Kapit division took part in the MYTV programme held at SMK Kapit No. 2 from Nov 30 to Dec 14 this year. Twenty- three of them underwent construction course which was sponsored by Petronas.
Since 2015, Petronas has been actively participating in MYTV programme at various locations such as Murum, Kuala Nyalau, Baram, Belawai, Lawas, Sampadi, Betong and Kapit. The company contributes training aid and building materials for the construction training course.
To date, some 1,181 youths in rural Sarawak have been trained under the MYTV programme. They will be eligible to pursue further training at various academies and technical colleges in the state.
According to Army Field Commander Lt Gen Datuk Wira Mohd Zaki Mokhtar, 65 MYTV trainees, including 20 Penan youths, are pursuing technical training at Centre of Technical Excellence Sarawak (CENTEXs), Malaysia Construction Academy and the Sarawak Women’s Department.